Monthly Archives: September 2015

I have been relying on smoothies more than ever this summer, so that would explain why there are so many smoothie recipes on here lately. I’m also trying to make more with coconut water as a base instead of almond milk because before or after a work out I feel so refreshed. Also I’m trying to try to find more that use a little more vegetables, instead of so much fruit.

Earlier this summer we were in Madison, Wisconsin and stopped at Collectivo Coffee during their epic farmers market. They had one dairy free smoothie, the green hornet, so I ordered it and it was delicious. So delicious that Milo took it over, and I had to go order another one. I wrote down what listed in it and have been making it myself. Its the perfect summer smoothie. So refreshing!

Today marks my 600th post! In honor of that huge number I bring you something I had been wanting to do since i started this blog: Make a lattice crust! This has been a bucket item list for me forever, and so glad to cross it off the list. Ive always been too scared to do it – not sure why, it really wasnt any more difficult to do than any other way! Lattice crust for the win!

And with the end of summer nearing us, I made one again. This time I veganized smitten kitchen’s recipe and decided to finally try a lattice crust pie! I dont know why ive been so intimidated, it wasn’t any more difficult to do than making the full coverage pie. I think pie crust in general intimdiates me. I’m warming up to it. This time you poach the peaches too, and i think it softens them a bit, and the result was incredible. This was such a great pie – even milo ate it!

Make your pie dough: Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl. Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas. Gently stir in the ice water with a rubber spatula, mixing it until a craggy mass forms. Get your hands in the bowl and knead it just two or three times to form a ball. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit, like a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days.

Meanwhile, prepare your filling: Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Prepare an ice bath. Make a small x at the bottom of each peach. Once water is boiling, lower peaches, as many as you can fit at once, into saucepan and poach for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to ice bath for one minute to cool. Transfer peaches to cutting board and peel the skins. In most cases, the boiling-then-cold water will loosen the skins and they’ll slip right off. In the case of some stubborn peaches, they will stay intact and you can peel them with a vegetable peeler.

Halve and pit the peaches, then into about 1/3-inch thick slices. You’ll want 6 cups; it’s okay if you go a little over. Add to a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. In a small dish, stir together sugars, cinnamon, salt and cornstarch until evenly mixed. Add to peaches and toss to evenly coat.

Preheat: Oven to 425 degrees.

Assemble your pie: Flour your counter very well, unwrap your first dough (if the two pieces look uneven, go for the smaller one) and put it in the middle and flour that too. Start rolling your dough by pressing down lightly with the pin and moving it from the center out. Roll until your dough is a 12- to 13-inch circle, then transfer pie dough to a standard pie dish by folding it gently into quarters (making no creases), arranging the folded corner into one quadrant of the bottom of your tin and gently unfolding it to fit over the base. Trim the overhang to one inch.

Scoop filling into bottom pie dough, including any accumulated juices Roll out your top pie dough until it is 12 to 13 inches in diameter. To make a lattice-top pie, cut the pie dough into strips anywhere from 1/2 to 1-inch wide with a pastry wheel, pizza wheel or knife. Arrange every other strip across your pie filling in one direction, spacing the strips evenly. Fold back every other strip gently on itself and add the longest remaining strip in the other direction. Fold the strips back down, repeat with the other strips until a full lattice-top is formed. Trim the lattice’s overhang to the diameter of the pie dish’s rim. Gently fold the rim of the bottom crust over the lattice strips and crimp decoratively.

To finish:Brush pie with almond milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie: For about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is set and beginning to brown. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and bake pie for another 30 to 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling all over and the crust is a nice golden brown. If the pie lid browns too quickly at any point in the baking process, you can cover it with foil for the remaining baking time to prevent further browning.

I’m remembering this recipe b/c its a random gluten free recipe that doesnt call for strange ingredients! Once in a while I need to make something gluten free, and the only thing i can think of other than rice krispie treats are these black bean brownies, which might be for everyone because they have a REALLY rich, dark chocolatey taste. (they are super delicious though!)

So i was happy to come across this recipe, and modified it a bit – and really love how these turn out. Thye are crispy around the edges, but definitely chewy and sweet. They have kind of a healthy taste to them, but in a good way. The chocolate chips round everything out. Will be keeping these in rotation for sure!

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the flax egg and set aside for 5 minutes so it can thicken up.
2. Using a mixer, mix together the peanut butter and coconut oil until combined. Add both sugars and beat for a bit more. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla extract until combined.
3. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, salt, oat flour, and almond flour) one by one. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Shape 1-inch balls of dough (smaller than golf balls) and place on the baking sheet. There is no need to flatten the balls as the cookies spread out a lot. Place balls 2-3 inches apart.
5. Bake for about 12 minutes until lightly golden. Allow to cool for 5-10 mins. on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10 minutes.

I made a variation of this pattern for christmas here, and I made another one, using regular fabric and an old sweater (for the ears) recently for my friend who had a baby. I recently got a new sewing machine and needed to break it in, and this was the perfect proejct. It takes about an hour to actally sew once you get the pieces cut and it turns out pretty darn cute! One day I will try making it from felt, like the actual pattern calls for, but for now its been fun seeing how the project comes to life using patterned fabric.

Labor day has come and gone which means summer is sort of officially over. We celebrated the summer with last cook-out. I decided to try something new and made this grilled corn salad. I’m only wishing I made it earlier in the summer because it was so delicious! Soon corn will be out of season….Definitely keeping this in the grilling rotation for next year!

4-5 ears fresh corn, in the husk

juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons honey (or agave if you dont do honey)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 of a small red onion, finely chopped

1 small cucumber, seeded & finely chopped

1/2 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

Instructions

Grill your corn on a hot grill in the husks, about 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel back the husks and stand the corn cobs upright on a cutting board and using a sharp knife, cut straight down, slicing the kernels from the cob. Set aside.

Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl until fully combined. Add the corn, onion, cucumber, and bell pepper; toss gently until everything is coated.

One thing that seems to do well in my garden is tomatoes. And this year, like year’s past, I got alot of them. In the past, I’ve roasted them, made sauce in the crockpot, and even added them to salsa. This time I made a skillet pasta sauce and it turned out really delicious!

1. Place cashews and almond milk in vitamix and mix until smooth. If you dont have a vitamix, you will probalby need to cover your cashews with water and soak for a few hours; drain them and then put in blender with almond milk. set aside.

2. Prepare your pasta. While that is happening heat a wok with 1 tspn oil.

3. Add onion and garlic to wok, saute about 5-10 minutes. Add tomatoes and continue to cook for about 10 minutes or so. Add spinach and cook until wilted.

4. Stir in the cashew cream, nutritional yeast, basil tomato paste, salt and pepper and cook for about 5-10 more minutes.

5. Add drained, cooked pasta to the wok and stir to combine the pasta with the sauce. Cook for a few more minutes, or until heated through. Season with more salt and pepper and add more basil if desired.

Milo had reminded me that we hadnt made popsicles all summer, so we ended that dry spell right before summer escapes us! Well we have a heat wave now, so the timing couldnt have been more perfect. He wanted something chocolate – so we made these fudgesicles and they are delicious!

Ingredients:

cookie dough –

3 T coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips

1-2 T almond milk

fudgesicles –

1 can full fat coconut milk ( I used reduced fat b/c its what i had on hand and these turned out really creamy and good)

1 T brown sugar

1 t vanilla extract

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

2 T natural peanut butter

1/3 cup cashews, (soaked for 3 hours in water and strained if you dont have a vitamix)

Directions:

Make cookie dough by mixing together all the ingredients, except chocolate chips with an electric mixer. Stir in chocolate. Cover and chill until time to freeze popsicles.

In a small saucepan combine the coconut milk, sugar, vanilla and chocolate over medium heat until chocolate is melted. Add peanut butter and strained cashews. I threw everything in the vitamix and blended.